Disclaimer: I own not this thing I write of. (I don't own CSI anything)

Danny's in trouble, bigger toruble than he knows. This story idea came partially from an episode I only caught the end of, much to my dissapointment. All I know is that at some time in Danny's life, he was hanging with a rough crowd. Oh how I wish I had been home in time for that episode.

CSY NY

Accusation

Ch.1

Danny kept still as a statue as he stared off into space. He had his arm on his desk and his head resting against his fist. He was too deep in thought to acknowledge much around him, so when Aiden slapped his desk with the flat of her hand Danny jumped, straightening, as though he had been sleeping the whole time.

" Wake up Messer, It's going home time," Aiden said with a cheery smile. Danny rubbed the spot on his head that had been resting against his knuckles.

" Yeah, I know," he said distractedly.

Aiden looked at him curiously. " You all right? You don't act like you're happy, and that isn't right. I mean you caught the guy, and in only a day. If anyone's got bragging rights it's you. So why aren't you grinning in a way that makes everyone want to hit you."

Danny shrugged. " I don't feel like it. The whole case, it just felt… too easy."

Aiden jerked in alarm. " What! Too easy? What the crap Danny I'd sell my soul for too easy. Just because the moron left the murder weapon in his own apartment doesn't make this too easy. Lighten up, Messer, really."

She then thumped him lightly on the shoulder. " Come on, let's celebrate. I'll take you out to the crappiest fast-food dump you can find and get you something that tastes better than it looks. How 'bout it."

Danny shook his head. " Not hungry."

Aiden stared at him for a moment in scrutiny, as though trying to see through flesh and bone into Danny's thoughts.

" Does this have to do with this Ricky guy you caught? You said he was part of some gang or mob or something…"

Danny idly scratched the side of his neck. " Bruno's gang, or Bruno's boys, whatever. Guy's like half Irish, half Dutch or something but he thinks he's Italian. He's such a freakin' cliché I'm surprised real Italians don't beat him stupid. Kind of wish they would. But he apparently has a good thing going. He's gotten away with a lot and he's always taken on new people. His people may be screw-ups, but he has yet to be. But no, that's not what it is. I'm not worried about that guy. I mean, I probably should be, but I'm not."

Aiden wrinkled her brow at this. " Should be?"

" Well, it's like I said, he may be a cliché but he knows what he's doing. Maybe he'll get involved with what's happening to this kid, maybe he won't. I think Ricky's related to him, like a cousin or something. But the evidence is against Ricky, so the only thing Bruno can do is get him a good lawyer, threaten Ricky to keep his mouth shut and just take what's coming, then back off. If Ricky's smart, he'll spill about Bruno, get his sentence cut, and get out of this. But my few encounters with Ricky have me believing he isn't that smart."

Aiden pursed her lips and nodded. " Okay then. So you're only problem is that the case was too easy, even after you yourself admitted that the perp may be an idiot."

Danny shrugged one shoulder. Aiden shook her head.

" Danny, Danny, Danny. You know what you're problem is? You're a perfectionist. You want there to be something else - some extra little, speck of dust evidence - that would help convict this Bruno guy as well as his cousin. You don't want this case to be over because, in your mind, it isn't. I say just be happy you got this guy at all, even if he is just some dumb kid."

She gave Danny a pat on the shoulder, then turned and headed on her way.

" Bruno," she spat as she left. " Sounds like something you name a dog. A big dumb one."

Her comment made Danny grin.

Danny had to admit it would have been nice finding something that would convict Bruno. Ricky was not the first of Bruno's gang Danny had dealt with. He had convicted a few here and there. His knowledge of Bruno, however, stemmed from a time before turning to a life of forensics. At that time, Danny had been running with the wrong kind of people, the kind that probably would have killed him had he not left. Bruno was the rival of those people, and whenever there had been a confrontation, Danny had been there. When that happened, Danny would be the one to receive the worst of it.

Bruno obviously did not remember Danny. He had yet to ever bring any of it up during investigations, and Danny knew from experience that anyone with knowledge of another's past tended to hold it over their heads like a knife. Not that what Bruno knew would ruin Danny's career, but the knowledge was still something Danny would rather keep buried.

What troubled Danny now with this particular case was the murder weapon. Most tended to discard the weapon as soon as they could, either at the scene or in a dumpster. Perhaps Ricky was stupid, but Bruno wasn't. So either Bruno never found out Ricky had kept the gun or… or what? If Bruno had found out he would have discarded the gun himself, then lay down the worst beating of Ricky's life.

Another factor that tugged at Danny's mind was how many times he must have overlooked the weapon. It had been right there on the cable spool that Ricky was using as a makeshift coffee table. It had been right there for the entire world to see, and Danny hadn't seen it until after going over the scene for twenty minutes.

At first he had passed it off to weariness and hunger, since he hadn't eaten for most of the day, jumping from one lead to the next without a break. That could be the reason, but he tended to catch things fairly quick, even without breakfast and lunch. Mac said so often enough, not so much in terms of praise but in terms of being unnaturally meticulous, bordering on obsessive. But, then again, what CSI wasn't like that?

Yet to nearly miss the most vital clue of the case, the murder weapon, had brought doubt seeping into Danny's mind; doubts about himself, about his abilities, even about previous cases. He had begun to wonder, and wondered even now, if there had been other times when he had missed something important that was right under his nose. He never recalled any incidents of this happening. All the same, the doubt still slunk about his mind like a rat, not letting it settle on the fact that Ricky was going to be put away, and Bruno was one man shorter than he had been.

Danny had become so engrossed in these thoughts once more that he did not notice Mac standing before him. Again, Danny jumped, straightening.

" Hey Mac," Danny said nervously, feeling abashed as though Mac had come in just in time to witness what Danny had been thinking.

The look on Mac's face was disquieting. He appeared troubled, even a little angry. Danny's heart picked up a slightly faster rhythm, and he swallowed uneasily.

" What's up?" Danny asked next, caught between curiosity and not wanting to know.

" We've got a problem," Mac said. " Come with me."

Dread trickled slowly like ice water down Danny's spine, though he did not know why. For all he knew, this had absolutely nothing to do with him.